Standish Writes is now on Free Rice! You may now be asking what that means. Does it mean that I am collecting free rice? Giving it away at a soup kitchen? Free Rice is actually a free website that asks questions in categories such as math, anatomy, literature, grammar, climate, foreign language, geography, and many more. Each time you answer a question correctly, free rice sponsors donate an amount of money equal to the price of ten grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme. The World Food Programme (WFP) then uses the money to help people around the world. In this post, I will break down the benefits of playing on this fun, educational, and free site.

It’s Free and Easy

How many times have you played a silly quiz to see what type of potato you are, how many car parts you can recognize, or how many Italian words you know? Free Rice has quizzes that you can take on almost any topic. While topics are designed to be educational, you can try to see how many Famous Quotes you know or how many Czech or Latin words you can guess. You can even try a vocabulary quiz in English to see just how much vocabulary you forgot since school.

It’s Educational

Vocabulary Block

How would you rewrite this paragraph?: He ran after the cloaked figure, climbing over the barricade and sticking the landing, before continuing to chase him by running through the alleyway, running faster as they ran towards the fence at the end. Climbing the chainlink fence, the figure was able to escape his pursuer.

While the brief story is understandable, you could replace some words and change some sentence structures to make it sound better. The first sentence needs to be split into two sentences or rephrased, and there are alternate words that can replace “run” and “climbing” here. While I’m writing, I always keep Merriam-Webster Dictionary and thesaurus open, either a physical copy or the website. As I’ve gotten older, I found that I forgot much of the simple vocabulary that I don’t use very often.

Have you ever known that there was a word for something, but not remembered what the word was? As I have gotten older, I have forgotten many of the simple words that I no longer use in everyday conversation. While I still know what the words mean, I can never find them when I am looking for them to write with. You can always find definitions in dictionaries, but sometimes looking up a word from its definition just doesn’t work as well. On freerice.com, you can play grammar and vocabulary quizzes that help you learn and remember different ways of saying simple words. While thesauruses are great, these tools allow you to keep your mind sharp and have the word or phrase you need at the top of your mind when you need it.

A Study Resources for Students

This is also an excellent resource for high schoolers. While the site has a 13+ age limit, it is a good way for high schoolers to quiz themselves and test their knowledge of class subjects. It is also fun, and donating “rice” gives them a feeling of accomplishment and of giving to others.

It Goes to a Good Cause

Each time you answer a question right, the World Food Programme (WFP) gets paid. They use this money to help tens of millions of people yearly, providing emergency aid and food in over 80 countries.

On any given day, WFP has 5,000 trucks, 20 ships and 92 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance to those in most need. Every year, we distribute more than 15 billion rations at an estimated average cost per ration of US$ 0.31. – https://www.wfp.org/overview

The World Food Programme sends aid primarily to areas affected by war and disaster. It will have thousands of trucks, ships, and planes out dispensing much-needed food at any given time.

Is this a Good Charity to Spend Time On?

At this point, many of us have seen various articles, reports, and social media posts detailing the salaries of CEOs and other expenses for nonprofits, as compared to their actual contributions to charity. We know from these that donating to charity is not enough; we want to help people in need, not pad a nonprofit CEO’s salary. Below is a breakdown of the World Food Programme USA based on several criteria.

Percentage of Donation Spent on Programs

Consumer Reports suggests checking out any charity to see if it meets BBB Wise Giving Alliance standards for accreditation, including a requirement that at least 65% of the money raised goes to program activities. The World Food Programme is accredited by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, indicating that it has met all of their 20 standards for charities. Click here to see the breakdown.

CEO Salary

According to Charity Navigator, the World Food Programme’s CEO gets paid over $350,000, which is a relatively high salary; however, it is much lower than many CEO salaries, particularly nonprofit CEO salaries.

Charity Navigator info on World Food Program

Board Leadership Practices

Now we have some idea of how the World Food Programme spends its finances, let us look at how they run the organization. According to guidestar.org, the WFP is run by a diverse board that regularly self-assesses. They also assess CEO performance regularly. The program has a policy to ensure transparency and has ranked high in transparency on Charity Navigator.

. Charity Navigator info on World Food Program 3

Free Rice

Overall, WFP has a good mission with transparent practices. They bring food to many countries throughout the world, undertaking a dangerous mission to help those in need. Their finances ranked about 80/100 on Charity Navigator, and they spend at least 65% of their money on programs to help fulfill their mission. While this number could be better, as could the CEO’s salary, the charity is worthwhile overall.

If you are a little concerned about the financial value of your donation, consider that you are not donating money through Free Rice. Instead, you are donating a few minutes of your time that you might have been spending on similar quizzes anyway. Donating to the World Food Programme by playing games on freerice.com is a valuable use of your time, which is why Standish Writes is now donating during our free time, as well.

Also, try the ShareTheMeal App to help fight hunger around the world!

Sites to Visit:

BBB Wise Giving Alliance – give.org
World Food Programme – wfp.org
Free Rice – freerice.com
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus – merriam-webster.com
Consumer Reports – consumerreports.org
ShareTheMeal App – https://sharethemeal.org/en/index.html

References: